Disclaimer: I don't own any bit of Jojo Bizarre Adventure. If I did Narancia would still be alive and kicking. So would Ceasar...and Kakyoin...
Warning: Grammar mistakes as English is not my first language, but I will try to catch all the errors I can. I will be using mostly the vocabulary that was subtitled on the Crunchyroll version, so 'Golden Experience' will be 'Golden Wind' and 'Aerosmith' will be 'Lil' Bomber'. That's just my preference.
AN: Sorry it took so long to get out another chapter. My 2022 New Years resolution is to write more. Only one more chapter to go. Thank you for reading this far.
Summary: Multiple personalities are a tricky thing. No matter how many there are on the surface, there's always one that's hidden, carefully watching everything. With Doppio dead and Diavolo trapped for eternity, the last hidden personality of the Boss has conveniently found an empty vessel to reside in. The hunt to retrieve Narancia's body now begins.
Requiem Blues
Chapter 2
Giorno is largely self taught with Golden Wind. Bucciarati, in the short time they had together, taught him as much as he could, but most of Giorno's skills and control came from what he learned through trial and error or by accident as he survived his way at a young age through the drug infested and mafia controlled streets. He learned of Golden Wind's ability to heal at seven when another desperately hungry street kid stabbed him in the side of his ribs for the last stale bread picked out from the dumpster behind a bakery. He learned six months later as winter rolled in about Golden Wind's ability to create life when the hole ridden blanket he tried to use to build a shelter came to life as a bear cub that huddled with him and provided warmth against the chill. It kept him from freezing to death in the night. In the morning, he learned that Golden Wind's ability to heal also extended to healing wounds even on a dead body (Giorno stared down solemnly at the icy blue body of the boy that had stabbed him previously). Golden Wind couldn't bring anything dead back to life, Giorno had tried, but at least the body looked marginally better; more peaceful as the wounds and scars are healed leaving behind a beautiful corpse.
Giorno learned as he grew and even Bucciarati had praised his ability on picking up on things quickly. But now that he began training in earnest with Joseph and Jotaro, Giorno realized how kind Bucciarati had been. Nothing wholly underscored how inexperience he really was until Purple Hermit sends him to his knees or Star Platinum sends him flying back violently into a wall. He was like a toddler again relearning how to properly walk with two pairs of sharp eyes scrutinizing his every move.
In a strange twist, Joseph was the stricter one...
...When he remembered that he was teaching.
There were moments where Joseph would gaze off and forget what he was doing and where he was at. He would sometimes turn to Giorno and in a beaming smile would joyfully call out "Caesar!" and embraced Giorno. It would last several heart beats before Joseph came back to his senses. An awkward cough a moment later and they would resume training again as if nothing happened.
"It's the blond hair," Jotaro was expressionless when Giorno carefully brought up the topic. "It reminds him of an old friend."
"Does this happen a lot?" Giorno asked warily.
"He's not young," was the deadpan answer. Star Platinum then proceeds to attack leaving Giorno almost unconscious.
Polnareff rounds up the rest of his training.
Polnareff, who was half-big brother and half-father figure all wrapped in a small turtle shaped package, watched everything usually from his place on Giorno's shoulder or sunning lazily on a nearby rock.
In the days after Bucciarati's death, Giorno struggled to keep everything afloat. He tried to keep Mista from acting out and Trish safe. He worked on gathering whatever resources Bucciarati had and he made plans after plans after plans. He did anything and everything to keep Buccirati's legacy alive, but the role that Bucciarati left behind was hard to fill and Giorno, even with his sharp intelligence and his commanding presence, was still just fifteen. There was just some things where experience was needed that he didn't have. That's where Polnareff came in.
Polnareff could have easily ascended like Bucciarati did. Polnareff had the kind of noble soul that if there was any justice in the world, it should reward him in the next life by making him a king. Instead, he chose to stay behind to guide Giorno.
Giorno has never felt more humble at the selflessness that Polnareff has shown.
Between Polnareff and the two Joestars there's over 100 years worth of knowledge that they impart on Giorno. Their spartan training meant that Giorno's control and speed improves over the next few weeks at an accelerated rate, but he's still so behind that even a partially dementia Joseph is able to knock him back. As he is, he wouldn't stand a chance in a face to face confrontation with the Boss.
"Defense," Joseph admonished after he sent Giorno and Golden Wind crashing into a tree. The trunk snapped from the force as Giorno and Golden Wind sailed through it. His fall was broken by the next tree he careened into.
Giorno hasn't been this beaten down since his step-father.
Using the back of his hand to wipe away the blood that lingered at the corner of his mouth, he managed to put up his arms in time to shield himself briefly before Purple Hermit broken through and he was sent to the ground again.
"Defense," Joseph repeated.
Giorno inwardly grimaced as he sat up.
In between his training, Giorno kept tabs on Trish, Mista, and Fugo.
Speedwagon has hidden Trish in an undisclosed location. Once a week she was allowed to call him and each time she promised that she was doing well and was keeping busy with helping Speedwagon gather the intel they needed to track the Boss.
"It makes me feel like I'm doing something to get Narancia back and not just relying on you and Mista," she confessed. The sounds of a keyboard typing is faint in the background as she sent the latest information to his phone.
It was encrypted. The signal was bounced from a dozen different locations through several countries, so figuring out where the signal originated from was impossible and the way the files were sent only allowed him five minutes from the moment he opened it to memorized it before the file is automatically deleted.
"Let's find Narancia," is how she ends each call.
She doesn't give any hints on where she is and Giorno doesn't pry. It's enough to know that she's safe and protected.
Mista is in Japan, in a place called Morioh, where he's undergoing his own training. Giorno hears from him a lot less often than Trish, but the angry cursing when they do make contact is enough to reassure him that Mista is fine as well.
Fugo is the one who doesn't, can't, make contact.
His undercover work in getting close to the Boss, working his way up the ladder through one of the Boss's Territory, has too much importance to not take all the precaution they can. Even if it means severing all contact unless it's an emergency. Even if it means going against everything morally right and doing what needs to be done to get close to the Boss (the trail of blood that Fugo and Purple Haze leaves behind is starting to turn all the water red in Italy) it will be worth all the sacrifices in the end.
The Brando in him is willing to sacrifice anything to get what he wants.
What he wants is to keep Bucciarati's dream about drug free streets alive and to finally bring Narancia home.
Giorno bites his lips through the pain, until the blood floods his mouth, and he stands again.
...
Joseph thought it was prudent to get Giorno out of Italy. The bounty on Giorno is starting to attract every underground assassin and even overseas attention. In the middle of the day, disguised among all the bustle of other planes, they boarded a private plane piloted by Jotaro. When they were in the air, Giorno watched as the skyline of Rome slowly disappears below until there was nothing left to see but clouds. He ignored the slight pang he felt as he left behind everything he knew.
Joseph, leaning on his cane, studied him but doesn't say a word.
They make a pitstop in Japan where a dark hair man was waiting at the airport terminal.
"Rohan Kishibe," the man introduced.
The name seemed familiar until Giorno remembered that Koichi Hirose had mentioned a "Rohan-sensei" in their first meeting. The process to give Giorno the ability to speak English took less then a moment, but there was something about the stand, Heaven's Door, that made Giorno wary. He thinks there's more to Heaven's Door ability (there's a smirk on Rohan's face and a curiosity as he took Giorno in with sharp eyes). Rohan struck Giorno as the type to push boundaries, but a stern look from Jotaro seemed to have quelled any impulses Rohan might have had. Heaven's Door did his work and Rohan left with a jaunty wave.
"Let's go," Joseph hummed.
The next plane they took was a regular passenger plane bound for New York. They were ushered by an eager flight attendant to a first class private cabin where for the most part Joseph slept and Jotaro pretended that he was alone with the brim of his hat pulled down low. When they landed it was 3 am, but that doesn't seem to diminish the life in the city. If anything it was louder and more chaotic than anything Giorno was use to. The sounds of car horns, the smell of street trash, and the bright neon lights washed over Giorno with the subtly of a freight train. He could feel Polnareff wince in his arms as his turtle limbs flail wildly. Giorno dimly recalled reading that turtles have a strong sense of smell that helps them avoid predators. He tucked Polnareff into his shirt to muffle the smell as much as he could. He received a pat of thanks from inside his shirt in return.
He thought he heard Jotaro snort before a expensive car pulled up in front of them. A driver in a full black suit stepped out from the driver's side to pull the door open for them.
"Mr. Joestar," the driver bowed.
The inside of the car was luxurious and spacious. It was big enough for Jotaro and Joseph, whose large bulk figures had from the onset outsized everything around them. They looked more relaxed in the bigger space.
"You'll be staying at the Joestar Mansion," Joseph mentioned as the driver pulled into traffic smoothly. "We'll continue your training there while Speedwagon does more investigation."
"Prepare yourself," Jotaro said stoically.
Giorno thought that Jotaro meant the training, but upon meeting the matriarch, Giorno wondered if this was what Jotaro really meant.
Susie Q, Joseph's wife, seemed to be put out when she met them on the doorsteps of the mansion. Her expression wrinkled tightly as she scrutinized Giorno from head to toe; eyes accessing and critical. It took a lot of pleading from Joseph and a lot of assurance that Giorno was not another love child before she humph with a nose in the air before she allowed him to take even one step into the mansion. She was still suspicious, but for the sake of peace she let it go without words. She chose to ignore Giorno completely choosing instead to fawn over Jotaro.
That's how his life at the Joestar Mansion began.
Dinners at the Joestar Mansion is a feat in patience. Jolyne Kujo and Giorno often commiserate over the dinner table silently. Almost all the dinners were awkward with Susie Q making offhanded snide comments about Joseph's loose pants and philandering ways and Joseph trying to placid her (apparently even in his advance age Joseph is lecherous old coot). The passive aggressive way the couple fought made even the servants flinch.
Then there's Jotaro who apathetically eats while ignoring everyone around him. The only reaction is a tick of the eyebrow when Susie Q mentions his ex-wife and how he should have never divorced such a good woman.
Any mention of her mother makes Jolyne stiff and the room grow colder.
The Joestar family dinner is, on a good evening, terse and on a bad evening outright volatile.
Giorno just eats and observed quietly.
He reminisces sometimes about the dinners he use to have with Bucciarati and the others. About how even with Fugo lunging across the table to strange Narancia or how Mista tries in vain to pick a fight with Abbacchio to see if he can ruffles those calm feathers, there was still warmth there. Family type warmth. Blood doesn't mean anything, Giorno realized. Real family is those you choose, not ones who are already made.
The Joestar family is dysfunctional and corrosive. He doesn't understand why Dio put so much effort into eradicating them. It seems to Giorno that if you left them long enough together they would destroy themselves.
Jolyne Kujo obviously realized this.
She kept away from the family as much as she could. When she was forced into any type of family gathering, she stuck close to Giorno much to her father's grimace. Maybe that's why she does it. Jolyne does have a petty streak to her that reminded him of Trish.
She purposely flirts, gives him the nickname "GioGio", and touches Giorno in view of the rest of the Joestar family's just to watch their reaction. There was no meaning to any of it; just her subtle joy in upsetting the people around her. It was more her father, less her grandparents, but still any reaction to her rebellious behavior makes her smile more genuinely.
She might as well have grown up on the mafia controlled streets, Giorno thought. She's more cynical than Abbacchio. She's more egotistical than Fugo. She seemed to hate her father with the same intensity that Trish has for her own father. But in spite of all that, Giorno likes her and the way she expressed her thoughts outright with no subterfuge. She reminds him of Mista.
He suppose the one thing that ties them together in common is the way Jotaro seems to treat them with no real regard.
For Giorno, the reason is obvious. He has as much Brando in him as he does Joestar and it's that part of him that makes Jotaro wary.
"He's not a bad guy," Polnaroff assured Giorno later. "Just stubborn and set in his ways. I think it's a Joestar thing."
It was a wonder that he even allowed Giorno to stay in what is considered the hallow halls of the Joestar family with how much Dio had stolen from him.
"He's a dick," Jolyne said after one of the more grueling training session with Jotaro. She tossed him a roll of bandages from the doorway of his guest bedroom. Leaning one shoulder to brace against the doorframe, she crossed her arms and studied Giorno. "You okay?"
"I'll be fine," Giorno nodded.
Her concern was still touching, so he offered her a smile. She snorted in turn before inviting herself in and sitting on the bed next to him. She bullied him into turning around so that she could wrap his broken ribs. He allowed her to help even though Golden Wind could have easily healed him. It was calculated on his end to allow her to view him as someone who needed her protection. It's even better if she thinks they have the same enemy. Giorno could use all the allies he can get with the upcoming battle.
"Can I give you some advice?" she ask him.
Giorno nodded. He kept his winch inward when she pulled the bandages around his ribs a little too tight.
"When whatever it is you need to do is finish, get as far away from this family as you can." Her piercing eyes, a Joestar trait, was embittered. She got up and headed toward the door. She turned at the doorway to look at him, expression serious. "This family is cursed and it's not because of Dio. You're better off staying away as humanly as possible."
The door closed almost with finality behind her.
...
Fugo was pale. Tired looking. This was the first time they were able to meet in over a year and the location they chose was an outdoor cafe in Tuscany that was popular with tourists and locals. It wasn't hard to blend in. Fugo in his plain purple polo shirt and tan shorts and Giorno in his sundress with shoulder length curls and make up (done with Joesph Joestar's help - who regaled Giorno with a long ago tale of his own cross-dressing adventure that somehow involved coconuts) looked like any normal couple out on an afternoon lunch date. They were ordinary, forgettable, and easily lost in the crowds of the lunch hour rush.
The setting was perfect for Fugo to give his report.
"I haven't seen him in person," he said to Giorno. Fugo looked a little irritated at the lack of progress, but Giorno expected as much. The progress Fugo made so far in infiltrating the Boss's organization was actually going smoother than Giorno predicted. "I don't think he has a visible second in command like he did with Dipplo. He might have learned his lesson there. But he does have a way to communicate with his top lieutenants and generals. I think it's some kind of coded message that only they know how to decipher so that they know the message is genuine." He looked at Giorno with a grimace. "Almost everything I told you is more of a speculation than fact, though. Keep that in mind. "
Giorno shook his head. "Bucciarati always said that your instincts were the sharpest out of the group. If that is what you believe, I will trust you. "
Fugo nodded. "They've also moved several containers of a new type of drug through Venice last week. It's going to hit the market soon."
Giorno frowned. "How bad is it?"
"Bad," Fugo winced. "Bucciarati would be rolling in his grave."
Giorno took a sip of his water and dimly notice that his lipstick was perfectly printed on the rim of the glass. Fugo noticed it too. Giorno ignored the hilarity in Fugo's eyes.
"Did you pick out that dress? " Fugo asked.
"Trish did," Giorno said. She and Joseph Joestar had bonded while they helped get him ready. Giorno purposely waited until Fugo took a bite out of his lunch before he continued. "Mista is your next date for the next report."
Fugo looked horrified as he choked on his meal. "Same M.O? "
Are you really going to make me have a date with Mista in drag? was what Fugo was really asking.
"Same M.O," Giorno confirmed. Going out in public meant extra precaution since Giorno, Mista, and Trish's faces were still plastered all over the underworld. The high bounties on them made it dangerous to venture out too often now that they were all back in Italy together. As much as it was an embarrassment, Joesph's idea to be in disguise was sound. Giorno hadn't recognized himself when he saw his reflection earlier in the mirror.
"It's less suspicious to see a woman and a man on a date." Joseph had said and so far, this test run had been successful. Neither Giorno or Fugo sensed any stand users or anyone suspicious nearby. The Speedwagon crew that was incognito around them didn't give any warning in the ear piece that Giorno was wearing. Mista out and around town dressed as a woman will be the next test run.
Fugo visibly shuddered at whatever image he conjured up. "It might make it more suspicious when they see him."
For the first time in a long while, Giorno laughs.
...
7 Years Later
...
In the Underground Catacombs in Pavia, even surrounded by his enemies, the monster in Narancia's body looked at ease.
Narancia's face smile.